Christian Humanism Whole Review Sheet John Durham

End/Intention

The goal of a particular action. Why something is being done.

Means

An action or thing used to achieve something else.

First Principle

The ultimate basis on which reasoning is built.

Ethics

The science that studies how human persons can achieve happiness.

Happiness

Man's complete flourishing wherein there is nothing more he desires.

Nature

The essential qualities or properties of a thing.

Human Nature

The inherent character or disposition of mankind.

Good

(Relative) Concuvide to well-being, to happiness; (absolute) the reality of completeness according to the nature or design of a thing.

Goods of the body

Goods that are objectively beneficial to our health and the physical parts of us.

Goods of the Soul

Goods that fulfill the functions and powers of the soul.

Goods for the Senses

Satisfied by the 5 basic senses working properly.

Goods for the Sense appetites

Satisfied when they respond to sensed Goods.

Goods for the Intellect and Will

These are goods that cannot be attained in this lifetime.

Hierarchy of Goods

All goods are not 'created equal' in order.

Ultimate End

The most valuable, greatest good of our life.

Substitutes for happiness

Things that people often see as substitutes for ultimate happiness.

Money

This is only a means to an end, not an end itself.

Pleasure

This concerns goods of the body, not ultimate happiness.

Health

While good, it is similar to pleasure, a good of the body.

Honor, Fame, and Glory

Spiritually good things that are possible effects of happiness.

Power

Similar to money, it is a means, not an end to bringing about happiness.

Virtue

Can be produced for other ends and even bad ends.

Beatific Vision

An experience of the ultimate, unlimited good found only in God.

Moral Law

The law which governs the voluntary acts of human persons.

Law

According to St. Thomas, 'Law is nothing else than an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by him who has the care of the community.'

An Ordinance

An order or command given by someone in a position of authority.

Common Good

Law is directed towards the community as a whole. It is for the benefit of the entire group, not a single individual.

Promulgate

To make known. The law must be made known to those it binds for it to be an effective law.

Eternal Law

The unchanging law referring to things as they exist in the mind of God.

Temporal Law

Not eternal, they have a beginning and an end. They exist in time.

Natural Law

Laws that are known by the nature of the things it governs. These can be discovered naturally.

Positive Law

Law that must be given or 'Posited' so that it is made known.

Divine Law

Law that has God as its origin. This encompasses a variety of laws that are both natural and positive.

Precept

Key elements and beliefs that make up the natural law. These vary in the level of understanding people have of them.

The Most Basic

'Do good and avoid evil.' This is self-evident to everyone who is able to think.

Right

A guaranteed entitlement to the means to obey the moral law. There are three uses: 1. The moral power to do, hold, or exact something 2. That which a person has the right to 3. Rights are the obligations we are owed by the law.

Subject of a right

The one who possesses or is owed a right. For example, the owner of a house has the right to a just payment.

Term of a right

The one obligated to respect/fulfill the right of another. For example, the one buying a home is obligated to make the just payment.

Matter of a right

That to which a person has a right. In the case of the home payment, it could be the title for the homebuyer who gave the fair payment or the fair payment for the previous homeowner.

Title of a right

The reason why the subject has the right. In the example, the subject has the right because they are the owner of the house.

Duty

Our obligation to do or not to do something. These always go along with rights, as we must respect the rights of others.

Absolute Freedom

Complete freedom with a goal of freedom itself. Seeks to go against the law in any form and lacks a relationship with truth.

Genuine Freedom

Freedom with the goal of happiness that exists within the framework of moral law.

Consciousness

The psychological state of a person who is aware of his own knowing.

Conscience

An ethical term that refers to our act of knowing the moral quality of our own free acts.

Practical intellect

Intellect that seeks to know what we should do or avoid doing. Seeks to know for the sake of doing.

Speculative intellect

Deals with questions of why things are the way they are. Seeks to know for the sake of knowing.

Reasoning

A step-by-step process where the intellect moves from one piece of information to another and then draws a conclusion through the relationship.

Syllogism

A three-step process of reasoning by the practical intellect.

Premise

Either major or minor, the pieces of information that are parts of the reasoning process of syllogism.

Erroneous

Conscience is not perfect; if it has accepted false premises or drawn an illogical conclusion, it can be incorrect or erroneous.

Invincible Ignorance

Ignorance that excuses us from the guilt/evil we do because we realistically could not possibly have known better.

Vincible Ignorance

Ignorance that is 'able to be conquered' aka we should know better; this does not excise us from responsibility for the acts we do.

Doubtful Conscience

If we are unsure, we must act to avoid rising evil; there is an order of things we should do/attempt to do to be morally safe.

Habit

Something that we have within us that we have a disposition to do; it is a course of action we become accustomed to taking.

Synderesis

A habit of basic moral awareness where we take in our conscience and the innate light of objective moral truth.

Innate

Something that is naturally in someone without having to acquire it.

Guilt

A feeling of remorse and responsibility for evil actions; we can be excused from guilt by certain things, but lack of guilt does not always mean innocence.

Act of Man

An act which a person has not deliberately willed and for which he is not held responsible.

Human Act

An act which a person has deliberately willed and for which he is held responsible.

Intention

The goal for the choice; this sets the rest of the human act into motion.

Deliberation

The act in which the intellect weighs and considers the various means for carrying out the intention of the will.

Consent

The will agrees with the intellect's judgment about which mean is best and sets it into motion.

Means

How we work to accomplish our intention; this involves the intellect's deliberation and last practical judgment working in conjunction with the will's consent/choice.

Interior act

The act of willing itself, the forming of intention, and consenting to/choosing the means.

Exterior Act

The act commanded by the will but executed by the other powers of the soul and bodily members.

Voluntary Act

Every human act that is willed and guided by knowledge; it cannot be forced or an automatic response.

Free act

A voluntary act that has at least two options, allowing for the will to choose between the options.

Antecedent Passion

Passion that comes about spontaneously before the will can act; it can rarely make acts not free but usually lessens the freedom and control.

Consequent Passion

Passion that is deliberately aroused by a person because of a conscious choice.

Habit

A disposition or inclination to act in a certain way that is acquired because of repeated habits.

Execution

The exterior acts of the moral whole.

Sins of Omission

We can sin by failing to do things we know we should do.

Object

What is being done in the case of the moral whole, involving both the interior and exterior dimensions of the act.

End

Why something is being done, also known as the intention of motive.

Circumstances

The things that surround and modify an act in some way (When, where, how, to whom it is being done).

Intrinsically evil act

Acts that are evil at their core and can never be good or justified regardless of ends or circumstances.

Proximate End

A case in which the exterior act is the object of the will, and the act is what is desired.

Remote End

A case in which the exterior act is seen as a means to a further, separate end.

Motive

Another name for the ends, why someone is doing something.

Principle of Double Effect

A framework for evaluating acts that have both good and bad effects.

Physical evil

An evil that does not directly involve a free act of the will.

Moral evil

Evil that does involve a free act of the will.

Formal Cooperation

The cooperator intends for the evil act to occur and desires it.

Material Cooperation

The cooperator does not intend for the evil acts to occur.

Immediate (Direct) cooperation

Takes part in the execution of the evil act itself.

Mediate (Indirect) cooperation

Provides the instruments or resources for the evil act to occur.

Proximate Cooperation

Makes a contribution that is 'close' in time or material connection to the evil act.

Remote Cooperation

Makes a contribution to the act that is 'far' from the evil act in terms of time or material connection.

Not guilty

When there is a proportionately serious reason to do so and avoids giving scandal.

Active Cooperation

Happens whenever a person does something that aids another person in doing his evil act.

Passive Cooperation

Happens when a person does not do that which he ought to do to prevent the evil act of another person.

Temperament

Our general attitude and approach to things. The basic quality of how we exist.

Character

The mix of our habits, temperament, and products of our environment, upbringing, education, free choices, and grace.

Virtue

A habit that inclines us towards good. It is the maximum that we are able to produce especially ethically.

Vice

A habit that inclines a person away from what is truly good.

Intellectual Virtue

Virtues that perfect the speculative and practical intellect to help us properly seek out reality and understand it.

Understanding

Being able to grasp basic, self-evident truths that are fundamental to all knowledge.

Knowledge (Science)

Being able to draw correct conclusions from sound premises, allowing us to properly reason.

Wisdom

Being able to know all of reality in relation to its ultimate causes, recognizing God as the creator of all things.